Community workers

Maison Plein Cœur counts on the presence of many experiemented community workers. Versatility is actually what characterizes their expertise. The workers are at the same time enabled to provide palliative care for people at the end of the lifetime and to accompany people who are taking the steps to return to the active social life. The principal role of the community workers consists in ensuring the connection between the needs for the people living with HIV and the community and public resources accessible in local environments.

Each year, trainings are offered to the community workers so that they know with precision the medical, psychological, social and cultural issues related to the fact of living with the HIV. In addition to understand what people living with HIV experiment, the workers are continuously informed on the new methods of intervention. Moreover, in order that the workers respect their limits and can work in partnership, they are invited to think of their personal engagement in the HIV-AIDS problematic. Here some examples of activities which are offered to them to achieve this goal:

• weekend of integration of the action plan, called Lac-à-l'Épaule;
• training on the new realities connected to HIV (drug-addiction, mental health and ethical of intervention);
• training on the reduction of the misdeeds related to risky behaviors;
• Aiguillons nos interventions (Re-directing our interventions) training;
• forum on gay health;
• annual Canadian conference.